AllFreeNovel
Share Us
This made Molly’s heart race. The idea of being a young woman and needing to flee from danger was something she’d grappled with and feared. “Oh?” she said simply.
“He seemed a lot nicer when I met him,” Helena said by way of explanation, though this was really not much of an explanation at all.
Faniry fast-walked her way back through the buildings and all the way to the pool, looking this way and that as she did, trying to avoid detection by the manager.
When she reached them she walked right up to Helena and nodded at the girl’s crossbody purse with fringe, gesturing for her to open it up. Helena unzipped it and glanced at Faniry, who reached out and dumped a banana, a hunk of baguette slathered in butter and wrapped in a napkin, and a small glass bottle of mango nectar juice.
“Thank you.” Helena looked up at Faniry, her eyes wet with the rapid onslaught of tears. “Thank you so much.” She looked back at Molly as she zipped her purse.
“Please don’t report me, okay? I need to get out of Madagascar before he finds me, I just don’t know how.”
Molly frowned and bit her lip. “Who is this guy?” she asked. It wasn’t her business, but a young girl trying to escape danger wasn’t something she could just ignore. “Does he know where you are?”
Helena looked nervous and like she might bolt. “I met him in the U.K. He told me he could take me to Africa for this big adventure. He said he had money. But we got here and it’s not like that at all. He lives in some shack with dirt floors, and he has a lot of creepy friends. I’m not safe there.” By the way her eyes grew haunted, Molly could imagine the kind of danger that Helena felt in that house with the dirt floors.
“But how will you get out of Madagascar? The only options are a boat or a plane,” Molly said.
Helena gave her a look of disbelief. “I’m well aware,” she said as she reached up and twisted her long hair into a knot, clipping it with a barrette that she pulled from her pocket. “And I guess if I meet the right person and am willing to trade the right things, then maybe I could get a lift on someone’s boat.” She gave Molly a long, knowing look. “It’s not ideal, but a girl has to do what a girl has to do.”
“No,” Molly said. She was resolute in this. She turned to Faniry, speaking English as if her coworker would understand. “I’ll be back in two hours. Tell Jacques I felt sick and I’m running late this morning.”
As expected, Faniry had no clue what Molly was saying, so to underscore her meaning, Molly bent at the waist, arms wrapped around it as she made a moaning sound and fake gags. She pointed at her watch. “I’ll be back at ten o’clock,” she said. “Dix,” she repeated in French. And then to Helena: “Come on—come with me. You’ll be safe. I live alone.”
Surprisingly, Helena let herself be led the mile and a half back to the center of town, though she looked both nervous and exhausted. Molly was well aware that this nameless man could be anywhere, and she did her best to hurry them along, ducking between buildings and behind vendor carts.
They got to her apartment and she hurried up to the third floor with Helena close on her heels. When she unlocked the door and let it swing open, Helena stood there on the threshold for a moment, looking around at the quiet, empty apartment.
“No man?” Helena asked, looking at Molly dubiously. It was clear that she was less trusting of men than she wanted to let on.
“None.” Molly nodded firmly. “You can come in.” She closed the door behind them, locking it and pointing at the couch. “Please, sit. You can eat your breakfast here, and make a cup of coffee if you like.” Molly pointed at her kitchenette and at the kettle on her stove. “I get off work at four o’clock today. I’ll come back and bring dinner, if you like.”
Helena looked around, eyes wide. “Why would you let me stay here—even for the day? What will I owe you?”
“Nothing,” Molly said quickly. “Not a thing. You can even use my bath if you like. Take a nap there on the couch. Relax here, and just know that you’re safe. I’m traveling alone myself, and I’ve needed the kindness of strangers on occasion, so it’s time for me to show someone else the same kindness.”
Helena looked once again as if she might cry. "Thank you." She set her purse down carefully, her eyes on Molly. "I'm so tired."
"Lock the door after I leave," Molly said. "I need to get back to work. I'll be home by about four-thirty or five, and I'll bring more food. Anything I have in the cupboard is yours."
She worked a long day with Faniry at her side, and they tried to talk about Helena in rudimentary French and their unofficial sign language that they relied on to communicate. At the end of the day, Faniry went into the kitchen of the resort and came back with a dish covered in foil.
"Masa," Faniry said, pushing the dish into Molly's hands. Molly knew that masa was a small, pancake-like creation that could either be eaten with stew or drizzled with honey, and she thanked Faniry. Borrowing food from the kitchen was frowned upon, which Molly knew from seeing two different workers get fired for this very infraction, but Faniry's cousins were both cooks in the kitchen and she knew that them slipping her a dish of masa would have been done discreetly. "I'll take it to Helena," she said, lifting the dish again in gratitude.
The walk back home was long and on tired feet, and Molly shifted the dish back and forth from hand to hand as she crossed dirt roads and stepped out of the way of passing cars. The sun was already low in the sky by the time she reached town, and rather than cooking anything that night, she stopped in at the corner store again to buy something premade.
So as not to startle Helena, Molly rapped on the door three times before inserting her key, then let herself in slowly, hoping to find the girl awake.
"Hi," Molly said, setting the dish of masa on the small table along with the rice and stew she'd purchased from the corner store. She'd also chosen a bottle of wine because the younger woman looked as if she could use a drink. Or two. "How are you doing?"
Helena sat on the couch, looking small and young and afraid in the waning light. Molly turned on a lamp.
Helena shrugged. "I'd like to go home," she said in a soft voice. "But I'm so far away right now..." She pulled her legs up under her and put her face in her hands, effectively turning herself into a small lump of a girl as she sobbed.
Molly crossed the room but stopped short of sitting right next to Helena. She stood before her. "Oh, hey," she said. She fought the urge to reach out and touch Helena; they didn't know each other like that yet, and Molly imagined that many people had touched her without her consent on this journey, leaving her shaking and fearful. "Let me make you some dinner. Or a drink. How about a glass of wine?"
Helena continued to cry, and for lack of a better option, Molly shrugged out of her cleaning smock and stood there in her tired brown dress, reaching for two clean glasses and the bottle of red wine. She poured one for each of them and took Helena a glass.
"Thank you," Helena said, looking up with watery eyes and tear-stained cheeks. She took the wine and drank from it like a little girl gulping grape juice. "I'm so thirsty."
